Credits

D&D Organized Play: Christopher Lindsay

D&D Adventurers League Administrators: Robert Adducci, Bill Benham, Claire Hoffman,
Greg Marks, Alan Patrick, Sam Simpson, Travis Woodall

Effective
25 August 2017

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers League, all other Wizards of
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This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express
written permission of Wizards of the Coast.

©2017 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. Manufactured by Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4 The Square, Stockley
Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK.
The D&D Adventurers League is the official organized play system for Dungeons & Dragons. Players can create
characters and participate in any adventure allowed as a part of the D&D Adventurers League. As characters
adventure, the players track their characters’ experience, treasure, and other rewards, and can take those characters
through other adventures that will continue their personal story.
Adventurers League play is broken up into storyline
seasons. Characters can continue to play their characters
after the storyline season has finished—participating in
future storylines with these characters. A character’s
level is the only limitation for play. A player can’t use a
character of a level higher or lower than the level range
of a given adventure.
Adventurers League adventures are set in the Forgotten
Realms, on the continent of Faerûn. Season 4 storyline,
Curse of Strahd, adventures are set in Ravenloft—though
characters traveled from Faerûn to Ravenloft, and back
again as part of that season’s story. Hardcover
adventures for previous seasons are set in the Sword
Coast region—a savage wilderness dotted with powerful
and iconic cities such as Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter, and
Waterdeep. Adventures created for previous seasons of
Adventurers League play are set in the Moonsea
region—a brutal land beset by bandits, monstrous
hordes, and tyrants. Going forward, the adventures
created to compliment the current story will be set in
the Sword Coast region to bring their story focus closer
to that of the hardcover adventures published by the
D&D team at Wizards of the Coast.
DMs and players engage with the D&D Adventurers
League in many ways. These currently include D&D
Introductory Adventures, D&D Premiere Play and
playing through the published D&D adventure for any
given storyline. Additionally, convention organizers have
been sanctioned to create approved D&D Adventurers
League adventures that premiere specifically at their
conventions. These adventures are set in the Moonsea
region of the Forgotten Realms. This list of options may
continue to change to meet the needs of D&D fans and
event organizers.
D&D Introductory Adventures. These adventures
premiere at your local core hobby retail store and are
meant to introduce you to the content of a new D&D
print product, published by Wizards of the Coast. This
free content typically supports 12- to 16-hours of D&D
play, and is made available for download from
www.dmsguild.com after its initial premiere. An
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Adventurers League Dungeon Master’s Guide v7.0
introductory adventure for each new release is planned,
not just D&D adventure releases.
D&D Premiere Play. These adventures support
Wizards of the Coast storyline product releases. They
can be purchased from the Dungeon Masters Guild, and
played as official D&D Adventurers League play. Once
purchased by a Dungeon Master, Premiere Play content
can be run as often as that DM likes in support of a given
D&D storyline season. D&D Premiere Play can take place
anywhere—both at a public venue such as a local core
hobby retail store, or privately in your home or other
location of your choosing.
Playing Adventurers League adventures as the DM is
easy and fun. The adventures can be prepared in a short
period of time, and you don’t have to worry about
creating all sorts of background material.
In order to run a game as a DM in D&D Adventurers
League games, you’ll need the following:
The D&D Basic Rules. This PDF document is available
for free on the Wizards of the Coast website. It contains
all the basic rules of the game, and you can create a
character with it. More options for characters are
available in the Player’s Handbook (PHB) and the Sword
Coast Adventurer’s Guide (SCAG).
An Adventure. If you’re running games in a game
store or at a convention, check with the organizer to see
what adventures are available. The organizer may be
able to provide you with access to a copy of the
adventure. Adventures are designed for a table of five
players, but can be adjusted for three to seven players.
Tables smaller or larger than those limits aren’t allowed.
Dice, Pencils, and Paper. Don’t leave them at home!
A DCI number (OPTIONAL). This is an official Wizards
of the Coast organized play number. It is obtainable at
public events; ask the organizer for one the first time
you play, or it can be obtained online.
These things aren’t necessary to run D&D Adventurers
League games, but might be nice to have.
Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG). This book contains
indispensable advice on running games. It’s great during
preparation, but you don’t have to bring it along to the
game. The DMG also contains descriptions of magic
items that might be awarded during the course of play,
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so it is suggested that you bring that information with
you to the table if it is not provided in the adventure.
While the rules contained in the DMG are available for
DMs to run their games, only the “Variant: Playing on a
Grid” and “Variant: Skills with Different Abilities” variant
rules are allowed for use.
Monster Manual (MM). While the statistics for most
monsters can be found here, special monsters created
specifically for a given season’s published adventure are
found in that product.
Index Cards. Great for writing down initiative,
handing notes to players, and as cheap table tents.
Miniatures and Map Surfaces. If you and your
players enjoy playing a more tactical game of D&D, you
can use these to help depict combats and detailed areas.
Dungeon Master Screen. Helpful to hide the
adventure and your notes and schemes from the players.
Before you start play, consider the following:
• Read through the adventure, taking notes of anything
you’d like to highlight or remind yourself of while
running the adventure, such as a way you’d like to
portray an NPC or a tactic you’d like to use in a
combat. Familiar yourself with the adventure’s
appendices and handouts.
• Gather any resources you’d like to use to aid you in
running this adventure--such as notecards, a DM
screen, miniatures, and battlemaps.
• Ask the players to provide you with relevant character
information, such as name, race, class, and level;
passive Wisdom (Perception), and anything specified
as notable by the adventure (such as backgrounds,
traits, flaws, etc.)
Players can play an adventure they previously played as
a Player or Dungeon Master, but not with the same
character (if applicable). Ensure that each player has an
adventure logsheet for their character (if not, get one
from the organizer). The player fills out the adventure
name, session number, date, and your name and DCI
number. In addition, the player also fills in the starting
values for XP, gold, downtime, renown, and number of
permanent magic items. He will fill in the other values
and write notes at the conclusion of the session.
Each player is responsible for maintaining an accurate
logsheet. If you have time, you can do a quick scan of a
player’s character sheet to ensure that nothing looks out
of order. If you see magic items of very high rarities or
strange arrays of ability scores, you can ask players to
provide documentation for the irregularities. If they
cannot, feel free to restrict item use or ask them to use a
standard ability score array.
Point players to the D&D Adventurers League Players
Guide for reference. If players wish to spend downtime
days and it’s the beginning of an adventure or episode,
they can declare their activity and spend the days now,
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or they can do so at the end of the adventure or episode.
Players should select their characters’ spells and other
daily options prior to the start of the adventure, unless
the adventure specifies otherwise. Feel free to reread the
adventure description to help give players hints about
what they might face.
In any D&D Adventurers League adventure, you might
see sidebars to help you make adjustments to the
adventure, accommodating smaller or larger groups, or
characters of higher or lower levels than the optimal
party size. Most of the time, this information is used for
combat encounters.
You can also adjust the adventure on the fly, beyond
the guidelines given in the adventure, or make other
changes as you see fit in order to insure your players
have a good time. For example, if you’re playing with a
group of inexperienced players, you might want to make
the adventure a little easier; for very experienced
players, you might want to make it harder. As such, five
categories of party strength have been created for you to
use as a guideline. Always feel free to use a different
adjustment during the adventure if the recommended
party strength feels off for the group during play. You
can typically figure out a party’s strength as follows:
To figure out whether you should consider adjusting
the adventure, add up the total levels of all the
characters and divide the total by the number of
characters (rounding .5 or greater up; .4 or less down).
This is the group’s APL. To approximate the party
strength for the adventure, consult the following table.
Party Composition Party Strength
3-4 characters, APL less than Very weak
3-4 characters, APL equivalent Weak
3-4 characters, APL greater than Average
5 characters, APL less than Weak
5 characters, APL equivalent Average
5 characters, APL greater than Strong
6-7 characters, APL less than Average
6-7 characters, APL equivalent Strong
6-7 characters, APL greater than Very strong
Players that have characters outside the adventure’s
level range cannot participate in the adventure with
those characters. If you’re playing a tier one (levels 1 –
4) adventure, players with ineligible characters can
make a new 1st-level character or use a pregen.
While the adventure provides suggestions on how to
adjust an encounter to provide an appropriate challenge
for your players, they are just that—suggestions. You
may, at your discretion, make other adjustments to the
encounter by adding or removing monsters. While the
monsters you add may be different from those listed in
the encounter or the sidebar, they should be
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thematically similar. For example, if your players are
encountering a group of zombies, adding a bunch of
pixies doesn’t make much sense. However, adding a
zombie or a ghoul might. Keep in mind that while the
characters earn XP for these new monsters, the
maximum amount of XP they earn for the adventure
does not change. Remember to give them a challenge,
but don’t make the adventure unbeatable.
You have the most important role—facilitating the
enjoyment of the game for the players. You provide the
narrative and bring the words on these pages to life.
To facilitate this, keep in mind the following:
You’re Empowered. Make decisions about how the
group interacts with the adventure; adjusting or
improvising is encouraged, so long as you maintain the
adventure’s spirit. This doesn’t allow you to implement
house rules or change those of the Adventurers League,
however; they should be consistent in this regard.
Challenge Your Players. Gauge the experience level of
your players (not the characters), try to feel out (or ask)
what they like in a game, and attempt to deliver the
experience they’re after. Everyone should have the
opportunity to shine.
Keep the Adventure Moving. When the game starts to
get bogged down, feel free to provide hints and clues to
your players so they can attempt to solve puzzles,
engage in combat, and roleplay interactions without
getting too frustrated over a lack of information. This
gives players “little victories” for figuring out good
choices from clues. Watch for stalling—play loses
momentum when this happens. At the same time, make
sure that the players don’t finish too early; provide them
with a full play experience.
As characters progress through an adventure, they’ll
earn treasure in the form of valuables like gold pieces,
jewelry, and art objects, as well as magic items. In
addition, there may be somewhat intangible rewards.
Since a group’s composition might change from one play
session to the next, make sure the players update their
logsheets before leaving the table. Each player is
responsible for maintaining their own adventure
logsheet. At the end of the session, each player should
record any rewards earned on their logsheet. Some
rewards are earned only at the end of an episode or
adventure.
Rewards are distributed at the end of a play session.
Typically, the adventure will have the details on
distributing certain rewards, but the general guidelines
for doing so are provided below. You might choose to
extend the play time of a given adventure because you
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are having fun. For example, you might take four hours
to play a two-hour adventure. However, doing so does
not increase the rewards of the adventure, which are
always preset.
Experience Points (XP). XP is awarded as noted at the
conclusion of the adventure or session—whichever
happens first. If you’re running one of the adventures
published by Wizards of the Coast, it is up to you to
calculate XP for your players. Otherwise, you’ll be
provided with a guide on how to do that in a standalone
D&D Adventurers League adventure.
Gold and Mundane Treasure. Coin, art objects, trade
goods, and other found wealth are converted to a gold
piece (gp) value at the conclusion of a session, episode,
or adventure, which is then divided by the number of
characters in the party. Each character should earn an
equal share unless otherwise specified. As a general rule,
items and treasure can’t be awarded unless it is
described under a ‘Treasure’ subheading.
Consumable Magic Items. Potions, scrolls, and
magical ammunition are divided among the characters at
the conclusion of a session. Most adventures will contain
a small number of such items and it’s up to the players
how they are ultimately distributed. A player notes item
obtained by recording it on their logsheet. Encourage
your players to proceed equitably in the distribution of
consumable items. If more than one player would like to
own a specific consumable item and they cannot resolve
it, the item’s owner is determined randomly by the DM.
Permanent Magic Items. Permanent magic items are
distributed at the conclusion of a session, episode, or
adventure. A player notes the item obtained by
recording it on their logsheet. Permanent magic items
have specific rules for distribution to promote equity.
Each character’s logsheet contains a column to record
permanent magic items for ease of reference. Follow
these steps to determine how to distribute permanent
magic items. A permanent magic item can only be
awarded if it, or the random magic item table it’s rolled
from, is mentioned in the encounter in which it is found.
• If all the players at the table agree on who takes
possession of a permanent magic item, that character
gets the item.
• In the event that one or more characters indicate an
interest in the item, the character who possesses the
fewest permanent magic items gets the item.
• If the interested players have the same number of
permanent magic items on the characters they played
during that session, the item’s owner is determined
randomly by the DM—usually by rolling a die.
A character’s permanent magic item count is reduced
only under very specific circumstances. This is detailed
in the D&D Adventurers League FAQ.
Awarding Renown. Adventures offer an award in the
form of renown points for members of certain factions.
This renown award usually ranges from 0 to 2 points.
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Award renown points at the conclusion of a session or
adventure. Characters earn renown only from their own
factions. A character can join a faction at any time in an
adventure before renown awards are distributed. Some
adventures might offer additional benefits to characters
of certain factions or ranks. Players earn renown at the
rate of 1 point per adventure (or 1 point for every 4
cumulative hours of play for Hardcover adventures).
Adventures consisting of five, one-hour mini-missions
typically award 1 renown point per mini-mission
completed, but only to members of a specified faction.
Awarding Downtime. At the conclusion of each
session or adventure, award downtime days to each
character. Adventures typically award either 5 or 10
downtime days at the end of the session, unless
otherwise specified. Characters can spend downtime
days (and as a result, pay lifestyle expenses) before,
during, or after the start of a session or adventure.
Characters earn downtime at the rate of 5 downtime
days per 2 hours of prescribed adventure length (or 5
downtime days for every 2 cumulative hours of play for
Hardcover adventures).
Adventures consisting of five, one-hour mini-missions
award 5 downtime days per mini-mission completed.
Within the confines of the play session, any settlement
the size of a town or larger can provide spellcasting
services. Characters need to be able to travel to the
settlement to obtain those services. If spellcasting
services are needed after the adventure has concluded, it
is presumed they’re available, and that bodies have been
recovered if necessary (unless the adventure or
encounter specifically states otherwise).
Spell services generally available include healing and
recovery spells, as well as information-gathering spells.
Other spell services might be available as specified in the
adventure. The number of spells available to be cast as a
service (while playing the adventure) is limited to a
maximum of three per day total, unless otherwise noted.
Spellcasting Services
Spell Cost
Cure Wounds (1st Level) 10 gp
Identify 20 gp
Lesser Restoration 40 gp
Prayer of Healing (2nd Level) 40 gp
Dispel Magic 90 gp
Remove Curse 90 gp
Speak with Dead 90 gp
Divination 210 gp
Greater Restoration 450 gp
Raise Dead 1,250 gp
Resurrection* 3,000 gp
True Resurrection* 50,000 gp
*These spells require an additional expenditure of downtime days (150 for
resurrection and 350 for true resurrection). This cost can be reduced by 50
days for each faction rank above ‘1’ that the character possesses. This
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downtime is spent in community service for the church that provided the
spell in question. The Acolyte Background feature does NOT reduce the gp
or downtime cost for either of these spells.
Acolyte Background. A character possessing the
acolyte background requesting spellcasting services at a
temple of their faith can request one spell per day from
the Spellcasting Services table for free. The only cost
paid for the spell is the base price for the consumed
material component, if any is required.
Only some faiths are represented by temples large
enough to provide this benefit. When playing any given
adventure, the available faiths are determined by the
season or region in which the adventure is set.
Acolyte Temples
Season-Region Deities
1-Phlan Kelemvor
2-Mulmaster Bane, Loviatar, Tymora, Velsharoon
3-Hillsfar Chauntea, Lliira, Tempus
4-Barovia NONE
5-Sword Coast*
T1-Parnast Mielikki
T2-Stagwick Chauntea
T3-Beregost Lathander, Waukeen
6-Sword Coast*
T1-Mirabar Dumathoin, Sharindlar, Tymora
T2-Neverwinter Oghma, Selûne, Tyr
T3-Dagger Falls Lathander, Tyr
7-Port Nyanzaru Gond, Savras, Waukeen
*Represented by three locations within the region.
Sometimes bad things happen, and characters get
poisoned, diseased, or die. Since you might not have the
same characters return from session to session, here are
the rules when bad things happen to characters.
Disease, Poison, and Other Debilitating Effects. A
character still affected by diseases, poisons, and other
similar effects at the conclusion of an adventure can
spend downtime days recuperating until such time as he
or she resolves the effect to its conclusion (see the
recuperating activity in the D&D Basic Rules or Player’s
Handbook). If a character doesn’t resolve the effect
between sessions, that character begins the next session
still affected by the debilitating effect.
Death. A character who dies during the course of the
adventure has a few options at the end of the session (or
when arriving back in civilization during the adventure)
assuming no one in the adventuring party has immediate
access to a raise dead or revivify spell, or similar magic. A
character subject to a raise dead spell is affected
negatively until all long rests have been completed
during an adventure. Alternatively, each downtime day
spent after raise dead reduces the penalty to attack rolls,
saving throws, and ability checks by 1, in addition to any
other benefits the downtime activity might provide.
No matter the means of death, bodies (and its
possessions) are considered recoverable by friends and
allies unless otherwise specified.
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• Dead Character Pays for Raise Dead. If the Dungeon Master Rewards
character’s body is recoverable (it’s not missing any Adv. Level XP Adv. Level XP
vital organs and is mostly whole) and the player Per Hour Per Hour
would like the character to be returned to life, the 1 50 11 650
2 75 12 725
party can take the body back to civilization and use the 3 100 13 800
dead character’s funds to pay for a raise dead spell. 4 150 14 925
• Character’s Party Pays for Raise Dead. As above, 5 225 15 1125
except that some or all of the 1,250 gp for the raise 6 250 16 1250
dead spell is paid for by the party at the end of the 7 325 17 1550
session. Other characters are under no obligation to 8 375 18 1675
9 475 19 1875
spend their funds to bring back a dead party member.
10 575 20 2500
• Faction Charity. If the character is of level 1 – 4 and a
member of a faction, a patron from the faction ensures
that he or she receives a raise dead spell. However, any
DM Quests are a series of out-of-game quests that
character invoking this charity forfeits all XP and
individual DMs can venture upon. Some quests are
rewards for that session (even those earned prior to
season specific, while others will carry on and renew
death during that session), and cannot replay that
each season. Whenever someone starts as a DM for the
episode or adventure with that character again. The
D&D Adventurers League— whether at the beginning of
character takes a −4 penalty to attack rolls, saving
a season or while the season is in progress—he or she
throws, and ability checks. Every time the character
can download the DM quests packet, which consists of a
finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it
DM quests card and a DM quests rules document. To join
disappears. Once a character reaches 5th level, this
option is no longer available. the DM quests program, DMs simply download the DM
quests packet from the Dungeon Masters Guild and print
• Create a New 1st-Level Character. If the dead
out the card. Whenever a DM finishes a quest, he or she
character is unwilling or unable to exercise any of the
checks it off on the DM quest card and applies the
other options, the player creates a new character. The
rewards as detailed in the DM quest rules. Magic items
new character does not have any items or rewards
earned through the DM Quest program can’t be traded.
possessed by the dead character.

D&D Adventurers League play is meant to be fun and

Dungeon Masters earn XP, gold, and downtime days they
inclusive; it’s not really a competitive atmosphere. As the
can apply to a character of their own. Use the target level
Dungeon Master, you should correct cheating players by
of the adventure as your guide when referring to the
quickly and discreetly (if possible) resolving the issue
table below. Dungeon Masters receive XP for every
and make a ruling on what happens. As DM you are
session, calculated in one-hour increments according to
allowed to review paperwork (character sheets,
the optimization level of the adventure (or average party
adventure logsheets, and certificates) at any time. If you
level for Hardcover adventures). This XP earned
notice something amiss—either with the paperwork or
according to the prescribed duration of the adventure
during the game (fudging dice rolls, not checking off
(or length of the session for Hardcover adventures). This
used items, and so on)—discuss it with the player and
DM reward replaces those specified in adventures
attempt to resolve irregularities. You can disallow a
released before the effective date of this guide. It is not
rules item that seem outside the official rules. You can
retroactive, however; you do not increase the rewards
ask a player to reroll a dice roll that isn’t obvious to the
earned from previously-run adventures.
table. Handle the corrections in a professional manner—
The Dungeon Master’s character also receives a
never embarrass the player or assume wrongdoing.
number of gp equal to half the XP earned for each
We’re all here to have fun and enjoy the challenge!
session, whether running a D&D Adventurers League
adventure or a hardcover adventure. Finally, Dungeon
Masters receive downtime days at the same rate as their
players (see Awarding Downtime, above).

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Adventurers League Dungeon Master’s Guide v7.0
• Official D&D Web Site
• Official D&D Community Web Page
• Wizards Play Network (WPN) Web Site
• Store and Event Locator
• D&D Adventurers League FAQ

• Official Wizards D&D Adventurers League

Announcements
• D&D Adventurers League Organizers Page
• D&D Adventurers League Twitter
• D&D Adventurers League Facebook Group
• D&D Adventurers League G+ Community
• D&D Adventurers League Online Tools
• D&D Adventurers League Wiki
• D&D Adventurers League Convention Locator

• D&D Basic Rules

• The rules document that contains everything you need
to get started.
• D&D Adventurers League Resources: Links to
downloadable content for D&D Adventurers League
play, including adventure logsheets and character
sheets.

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Adventurers League Dungeon Master’s Guide v7.0
All D&D Adventurers League participants are here to have fun and should feel safe and included at all times. All
participants (players, Dungeon Masters, and organizers) are expected to adhere to this Code of Conduct.

Participants must conduct themselves in a manner that is conducive to the enjoyment and safety of
others at the event.

Avoid excessively vulgar, sexual, or overly mature language and themes.

Follow the DMs lead, avoid arguing with the DM or other players over rules.

Let other players speak, avoid talking over others.

Avoid excessive cross-talk that is not relevant to the adventure being played

Allow other players to get attention from the DM.

Discourage others from using social media to bully, shame, or intimidate other participants.

Avoid phone conversations at the table. If you must take a call, please excuse yourself from the table
until your call is completed.

No tolerance is given for theft or aggressive behavior.

Theft and aggressive behavior are grounds for immediate removal from the play area and the
premises.

Aggressive behavior includes threats of or actual physical aggression, using racial, gender, or cultural
slurs against another participant, and otherwise harassing other participants.

Participants who feel as though they are in an unsafe environment should notify the organizer of the
event immediately.

Participants noticing disruptive behavior should make those responsible for the behavior aware of
their actions.

If a participant feels uncomfortable bringing it to the attention of the disruptive individual, the
participant should notify the Dungeon Master or organizer of the event immediately.

The Dungeon Master has the right to ask a disruptive player to leave the table and speak with the
organizer.

The organizer has the right to remove a disruptive or aggressive player or Dungeon Master from the
play area or premises.

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